Helping Black Girls Spread Joy through their Communities

The call went out over social media, traditional media, and via grassroots connections in mid-2020: Tell us how you would spend $400 to spread joy in your community, and you could be granted an award to make it happen.

When Comic Relief US’ grantee partner, Southern Black Girls and Women Consortium (SBGWC) created the first #BlackGirlJoy Challenge in 2020, the goal was to bring some light into the world after months of Covid-induced isolation, fear, stress, and loneliness. SBGWC staff had no idea what kinds of submissions they would get; they just knew there was a deep need to bring a little positivity into the world.

“We got 400 applications in two weeks,” SBGWC Executive Director Malikah Berry Rogers remembers. “We were really surprised at how selfless our girls were. One request that just broke us was from a young girl whose mom was a nurse. She wanted to use the money to buy PPE to make care packages for her mother and her mother's coworkers so that they would have fresh PPE to go to work every day.”

Comic Relief US knows that today’s youth are compassionate and resilient. We believe that given the right tools, resources, and skills, young people can achieve their own goals and be agents of change in their communities and the world. That’s why we support programs like SBGWC’s #BlackGirlJoy Challenge — to drive transformative, structural change that will enable young people to fulfill their true potential, transform their communities and create a future where everyone is safe, healthy, educated, and empowered.

In three years of grant-making, 500 girls from across 12 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia — have been able to fulfill their dreams of making a difference in their communities through SBGWC’s #BlackGirlJoy Challenge. The amount has increased to $550 per award for the coming year, and Texas has been added to the mix.

Projects have included:

• One 14-year-old runner bought new uniforms for her junior high track team in North Carolina because the girls had been wearing their own clothes for meets and competitions. Here’s how she described the feeling of contributing to her community: “This challenge brought me joy by being able to help out my school and making sure that they have the proper uniforms. My teammates feel happy, confident, and prepared while they run so they don't have to stress about what they're going to wear for their track meet. We’ve been asking for new uniforms for a very long time, and just being able to bring them joy brought me joy.”
  
• Two Georgia teenagers wanted a safe way for their families and their community to have fun, together. These young leaders created a drive-in theater at a local baseball field and called it the Brown Girls Global Drive-In.
  The entire community joined in to help: finding a location, gaining permission from the state for the gathering, and securing the movie license to show ‘Black Panther,' their inaugural feature film.
  
• A 14-year-old in Alabama wanted to provide art classes and supplies to Black girls who hadn't had the chance to experience art. During her own time in elementary and middle school, they never had the luxury of an official art class. With her #BlackGirlChallenge award, she provided an art class for the girls in the community, which brought her — and the girls — so much joy and made a huge, community-wide impact.

Winning an award and seeing their visions supported has gone far beyond creating moments of joy for these young women. Malikah Berry Rogers says it gives them an enormous confidence boost and helps them see themselves as leaders in their communities whose ideas and efforts are respected, appreciated, and making an impact.

In fact, one moment of joy has led to lasting change for young women across the state of Alabama. Twin sisters from Montgomery used a Black Girl Joy Challenge Grant to start Women in Training, Inc. The sisters have been advocating for free period products in schools since 2019, and committed to passing legislation that allows low-income schools across the state to receive free period products.

The girls collaborated with State Rep. Rolanda Hollis (D) in two legislative sessions to pass the free period products bill that Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law in April 2022. This law will provide Title I schools with $200,000 to provide free tampons and pads to students in grades 5 through 12.

These are just a few examples of the world you are helping us build when you support Comic Relief US and our goal to empower children and young people to reach for their dreams. When we invest in empowering kids, communities become healthier, safer, more equitable, and more prosperous.

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